Cooked Cabbage

part of: Cabbage

Boiled cabbage is one of the simplest and most traditional ways to prepare this everyday vegetable. Common green or white cabbage is cut into wedges or shredded, simmered in salted boiling water until tender, then drained. The result is soft, mild, and gently sweet — a far cry from the sulphurous reputation that overcooked cabbage sometimes earns.

The key to good boiled cabbage is restraint — cooking it just until tender rather than letting it go limp and grey. Well-prepared, it’s a comforting, understated side dish that pairs beautifully with roast meats, corned beef, sausages, and hearty stews.

Boiled cabbage is a staple across British, Irish, and Northern European cooking traditions, and remains a common weeknight side dish in many Australian households. It takes well to a knob of butter, a crack of pepper, or a splash of vinegar after draining.

Farmed
photograph to come — from twenty years of markets, farms and kitchens

How it's made

A head of common cabbage is trimmed of its outer leaves, quartered, and cored. The quarters are cut into wedges or shredded to the desired thickness. A pot of water is brought to the boil, salted, and the cabbage added. It’s cooked at a steady simmer for anywhere from five to fifteen minutes depending on the size of the pieces and the desired tenderness. The cooked cabbage is then drained thoroughly in a colander before serving.

Nutrition (per 100g)

Energy 23kcal
Protein 1.3g
Carbs 3.6g
Fat 0.1g
Fibre 1.9g Sugar 2.8g
Mass Distribution

1 head is about 1262 g — roughly 290 kcal of this.

What it costs the planet (per kilo)

Carbon ≈0.74kg
Freshwater ≈162.62L
Land ≈0.62m²

≈ Estimated — worked out from a category-typical value further up its supply chain. Where this comes from →

Where it comes from

In the kitchen

Used as

boiled braised cabbage

Goes well with
bacon caraway butter potato onion
Classic dishes
  • Colcannon
  • Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
  • Corned Beef and Cabbage
  • Bubble and Squeak

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Where this data comes from

Nutrition data from

USDA

How it was calculated

SR Legacy

Full credits, licences, and methods: the sources page →

Where to next

made fromCabbage, leaves goes well withbacon goes well withcaraway goes well withbutter goes well withpotato goes well withonion shares a sourceColeslaw shares a sourceGreen Cabbage shares a sourcePickled Cabbage shares a sourceSauerkraut
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